The right-of-centre coalition at Prague City Hall has collapsed and
after two decades in office the Civic Democrats have been forced into
the opposition. City hall representatives on Thursday recalled Civic
Democrat mayor Bohuslav Svoboda and two Civic Democrat councilors
responsible for transport and property management. The move came three
days after TOP 09 withdrew from its coalition with the Civic Democrats
and demanded the lion's share of powers in local government. The Civic
Democrats were recalled with support from the opposition Social
Democrats and the Communists. TOP 09, which has a majority in the
Prague assembly of representatives is to hold talks with the Social
Democrats on Prague's future administration.

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PM slams TOP 09 for destructive ambitions at Prague City Hall
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Prime Minister Petr Necas, the leader of the Civic Democratic Party,
has slammed TOP 09 for triggering the power play at Prague City Hall,
saying it was a regrettable move that revealed the party's growing
ambitions. Prime Minister Necas said the ousting of the Civic Democrats
from power at Prague City Hall had clearly been prepared together with
the opposition Social Democrats and the Communists and noted that he
could not rule out a similar scenario developing on the national-scale.

TOP 09, which may seek support to maintain a minority administration in
Prague, has rejected the accusations that it was jockeying for power on
the right ahead of next year's elections. TOP 09 deputy mayor Tomas
Hudecek, who now heads Prague City Hall, said the collapse of the
Prague coalition was triggered by internal strife within the Civic
Democrats and the party's refusal to deal with pressing problems. Mr.
Hudecek said Prague was sliding deeper into debt and TOP 09 could no
longer stand by and accept co-responsibility for the city's poor
management.

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Police suspect young American murdered four people in Brno
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The police are investigating the murder of four people in Brno. The
suspect is a young American known on social networks as Kevin Dahlgren,
who reportedly resides in Brno and had offered his services as an
English teacher. His whereabouts are presently unknown. The police have
warned the public that he is dangerous and very likely armed.
Detectives have asked the public for help in tracing the suspect but
have not released any details regarding the possible motive of the
crime or the identity of the victims. According to Tyden magazine the
victims were an older couple and their two sons, both musicians. The
suspect was reportedly a relative who lived with them for close to
three weeks.

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Head of Eastern Orthodox Church meets Cardinal Duka and Cardinal Vlk
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On a four day visit to the Czech Republic, the head of the Orthodox
Church, Patriarch Bartholomew I, on Thursday met with Prague Archbishop
Cardinal Dominik Duka and Cardinal Miloslav Vlk to discuss relations
between the Catholic and Orthodox churches and the upcoming
celebrations marking the 1150th anniversary of the arrival in Moravia
of the Orthodox missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius. In a religious
ceremony at the Church of Ss Cyril and Methodius in Prague Patriarch
Bartholomew praised Czechs for maintaining the Cyril-Methodius
tradition and asked the saints to safeguard the nation in these
difficult times.

Czech arms producer Ceska zbrojovka has won an international tender for
the supply of 50,000 pistols to the Egyptian interior ministry, the
company's CEO Lubomir Kovarik told the CTK news agency on Thursday. The
one-year contract is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of crowns.
The CZ P-07 duty pistols commissioned are smaller than those supplied
by Ceska zbrojovka to the Czech military and security forces. The
company is seeking to clinch a similar deal with Iraq. Ceska zbrojovka
is one of the country's major arms producers, its annual sales having
topped two billion crowns in recent years.

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Students come out in defense of academic freedoms
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Some 200 young people staged a protest happening outside Prague Castle
in defense of academic freedoms on Thursday in the wake of a scandal
over the president's refusal to name a respected Catholic intellectual
professor. Although the President Zeman backed down on Wednesday,
signing Mr. Putna's decree, and saying he no longer wanted the
prerogative to appoint professors, there is still simmering anger over
the incident among students who feel that academic freedoms have been
violated and fear they may be again at any time in the future.
Meanwhile, rectors are not happy with the proposal that in future
professorial decrees would be signed by the education minister, saying
that the president's signature gave the decree greater weight and
reflected the high esteem associated with the title.

Gumball 3000 is due to sweep through the eastern part of the Czech
Republic on Thursday evening passing through Ostrava, Olomouc, Brno and
Mikulov, on its way to Austria. The first cars crossed the Czech-Polish
border at around 5 pm and the last should leave Czech territory at
around midnight. Police are out in force for the event saying that they
are prepared to use the right to detain participants for up to 48 hours
in case of serious violations of the road law.

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Monroe exhibition to open in Prague despite theft of memorabilia
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An exhibition of Marilyn Monroe imagery and memorabilia to commemorate
the sex-symbol of the 1950s will open at Prague Castle as planned
despite the fact that some of the items were stolen during their
transport to Prague, organizers said on Thursday. The theft of a truck
carrying part of the memorabilia to be put on display made news
headlines on Wednesday raising questions as to whether the exhibition
would take place. The Armentano company and the Salvatore Ferragamo
Museum which are loaning the artefacts said the lost items could be
replaced in time. Among the artefacts to be put on display are film
costumes, personal belongings, unpublished photographs and excerpts
from the actress's diary. The exhibition will open next Saturday and
run until mid-September.

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Viktoria Plzen pull five points ahead in title race with two rounds left
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Viktoria Plzen have pulled five points clear in the race for the Czech
soccer championship with only two rounds remaining. The West Bohemian
side gained the advantage when they beat Olomouc 1:0 away on Wednesday
night and their closest rivals Sparta Prague lost 2:3 to Brno in the
Moravian capital. Plzen were crowned champions for the first time in
their history two years ago.

The coming days are expected to be quite cold with overcast skies and a
significant drop in temperatures to between 10 and 14 degrees Celsius.
There may be morning frost in places and fresh snow in the mountain
regions.

Members of the Prague assembly on Thursday dismissed Mayor Bohuslav
Svoboda as well as two other Civic Democrat councillors in a vote
Thursday that sees the Civic Democrats head into the opposition for the
first time in more than 20 years. The collapse of the council at City
Hall was prompted earlier this week by TOP 09, whose members said they
could no longer work with their partners on key issues. The now former
mayor charged that that was only an excuse for the party to shift gears
ahead of next year's elections.

A Czech brewery is taking the country's leading consumer magazine to
court over tests which detected high levels of mould in one of its
brews. The Svijany brewery questions the accuracy of the findings, as
additional testing did not find increased levels of mycotoxins in its
beer. In an email leaked to the press, the brewery's manager also says
that government subsidies for the magazine should be cut.

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